English uber alles: the language digital divide

English uber alles: the language digital divide

Google assistant is fantastic. Unless you don’t speak English. In which case it is almost useless. The whole “Artificial Intelligence” vogue is rather misleading. Because when I speak to Google Allo I am still using all my experience in computing. It works great for me because I think like a computer. I break down my questions into chunks the way I think the computer wants to hear it. I add qualifiers, words to help the machine understand with more accuracy. I use terms that are more likely to work. When we say “natural language” hey, there are classifications. I use “natural language more likely to be understood by Google”. It drives others crazy. They blame my perfect accent. “But I said the same thing! Why doesn’t it work for me?”

Here’s the problem. Google and pretty much everyone else in Silicon Valley, they are all only thinking in English. Your Amazon Echo is designed for native English speakers. (Pun intended.) All your gadgets are. Worse still, the intelligence is designed around people thinking in English. All the structure, the concepts, the way it is set up. It is rather entertaining how some people get caught up with the fact that slang and tech words are conquering the world. That is the tip of the iceberg.

Silicon Valley is moving ahead of the rest of the planet with leaps and bounds. Light years ahead. We don’t have local information. We can’t use amazon like you do. We can’t pay for stuff or call a self driving car. Amazon will not be able to deliver to the trunk of my car either. The United States are a test bed for new tech and the gap with everyone else will grow exponentially. And only in 2030, when computers are smarter than humans, maybe, just maybe, those computers may decide to develop all these wonderful tools for the rest of the earthlings. And even then it will take a lot of work. Because English is the language that provides the structure and concepts. More likely that you will have all learnt to think like Google by then.

2030 is still material for science fiction. Today, now, it is clear that we all have to move to the Valley or fall behind. We have neither the data with which to develop such advanced tools, nor the number crunching power. The entire planet sends their thoughts to Google every day Out position, habits and preferences. It is no conspiracy theory, it is simple mathematics. Not impossible to catch up, just really really hard.